You don’t usually see university presses publishing science fiction novels, but in the last couple of years, the University of Minnesota Press has released a series of translations of classic Japanese novels, such as Yoshio Aramaki’s The Sacred Era and Kawamata Chiaki’s Death Sentences. The latest is Mariko Ōhara’s Hybrid Child, and it’s the first time that it’s ever been translated into English. A cyborg known as “Sample B #3” was designed to be able to transform into anything he ingested. He assumes the identity of a technician and escapes, while a murdered child named Jonah becomes the spirit of an AI-controlled house.

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